Nov 2012 Speaker Fiona Matthews - CamCAN: The science (and art) of imaging a population f/b Club Council

"The Science and Art of Imaging and Population" - the title of an intriguing and far reaching talk given to us by Dr Fiona Matthews at our weekly meeting this evening.

Fiona is the Programme Leader and Senior Scientist of a research programme on statistical epidemiology in ageing, the work being carried out at the Medical Research Council, Biostatistics Unit at Addenbrookes. In order to get a truly representative sample of brain images from the population at each decile of aging, thousands of people are being approached to take part in the largest statistical trial of its kind in the world - yet another example of Cambridge University leading the world.

The sheer scale of the exercise, involving interviewing thousands and scanning hundreds of people, is nothing less than daunting. But who knows what "secrets of the brain" this scanning programme might in the long term reveal, and the new knowledge of mental disorders such as Alzheimers from which future generations will benefit?

Early indications are that as we age, from around 60 years of age,  memory creation and recall gets harder. The imaging shows that the brain begins to shrink and areas of the brain do not die off, as previously thought, but the platelets that accumulate on the neurons interfere with the recall links.

Advice on how to maintain your brain's abilities includes keeping physically active, socializing a lot, learning new things, eating and hydrating well and not drinking to excess.

Visitors at this meeting included a student studying Dental Surgery and a lady Rotarian from a London Rotary Club, visiting Cambridge on business - They both found our meeting a pleasant relaxation after their day's work.

http://www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/about_us.html

Host - John Helmsing.